Torn Hearts
by Ephemeral Blossoms
Summary: With the loss of his heart and the revival of a certain nobody, what's a guy to do? Light shonen-ai. Some pairings introduced later on.
1. Anguish

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the long break. I was originally working on "A Diary of Pain" but I couldn't motivate myself to really write it. Italics represent thoughts, voices in someone's head or just emphasized words. And yes, I do hate Sora so I make fun of him sometimes…And I don't really like the nobody that I'm bringing back xD.

SUMMARY: With the loss of his heart and the revival of a certain nobody, what's a guy to do? Rated T.

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING.

_**Torn Hearts**_

"Riku?"

_Hey, person that's listening or reading (whatever) this. I'd give you my full name but I'd rather you just call me Riku._

"Hey, helloooooo?"

_That idiot in front of me with the spiky hair is my friend, Sora. I've known him since forever (more like since I was six). We're complete polar opposites, so it's hard to believe that we're as close as we are. _

"Rikuuuuuu…"

_Anyway, I'm 16 and I guess you could say that I'm the most popular guy at my high school. I'm not as outgoing as I used to be but people think that makes me cooler. I have no clue why._

"Are you rolling your eyes at me?"

_People don't understand that I'm not really into socializing, ESPECIALLY girls. They practically worship me like the stalkers they are. Hey, I am pretty good looking you know…But it's still pretty creepy. _

"Riku, why are you winking at me like that? We're going to be late for Tidus's New Year's party!"

_One year ago, something happened. I'm too lazy to give out the details, but I lost my body to the darkness. I guess I just needed something to happen to remind me that this is reality. I needed some excitement. A lot of things happened afterwards and I'm still way too lazy to explain them. In the end, Sora rescued me from the darkness…_

_And myself._

…

_I think._

"RIKU, SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Riku suddenly blinked to actually notice Sora standing in front of him. They were by the docks on the mini island.

"You're so out of it! What were you thinking about anyway?" the fifteen year old brunette teased his best friend.

"It was nothing," Riku replied quietly.

"Then how come you were so…not there?"

"It's none of your concern."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that what I was thinking about doesn't really have anything to do with you. You are not involved in it in anyway whatsoever so you don't have any business asking me what it was that I was thinking about."

"Are you sure?"

"YES, I'M SURE, SORA," Riku gritted his teeth.

Sora's smiled faded from his face,"You know," he began to pace around, "You've been really…distant ever since we got back from the World That Never Was. Are you feeling okay? Sometimes, you seem like you used to be before everything happened…You know…I guess at least somewhat happy," Sora confessed, "And now…I guess you just seem to be really content one moment and angry the next. If something's wrong, I'm always here if you ever need to talk."

"What are you, my psychiatrist?" Riku asked with certain annoyance, "Or are you trying to say that I'm bipolar or something?"

Sora's face appeared to be filled with suffering as he tried to ignore that last statement, "You just seem to stare off into space a lot lately. I thought that was supposed to be _my _roll!" Sora laughed half-heartedly.

The sixteen year old said nothing. He began to walk away from Sora and stepped into his boat to go back to the main island. He wasn't really up for going to Tidus's New Year party; he was only going because Sora was forcing him to go and saying that it would be 'so much fun'.

Finally, he turned his head slightly and stared right into Sora's royal orbs.

"Sora?"

"What is it, Riku?"

The silver haired teen inhaled deeply, preparing to pour his heart out to Sora, "Why is it that reality is so…"

"HEY! Sorry I'm late!" a familiar redhead ran up toward the two friends, "I forgot something back there and had to go look for it.," she pointed towards the Secret Place, "Are you guys ready to go now?"

_Damn, it's Kairi._

"Sure, Kairi!" Sora beamed at her, "Oh, hey, Riku?"

"What now, Sora?"

_He forgot that I was saying something. What a dumbass._

"I…I need to know something…Riku…Do you regret coming back to the islands with me?" he asked innocently.

Riku proceeded to ignore the question but answered in his head instead. It was easier that way.

_I'm sorry Sora…I don't know. Sometimes, when I'm happy, I don't at regret it at all. You know, like I was earlier. But now, I'm pissed and really wish I had died along with the darkness that used to hold me hostage. _

_Why is my heart filled with such devastation? Is it the reality that has locked me in its cage that is making me feel this way? I'm just so carefree when I'm stuck in my delusion…Like nothing bad ever happened. I'm so tired of this on and off emotional pain…_

_Will it ever end?_

Riku looked away from the two as he took out his paddles, "I'll meet you guys at the main island."

"Wait, Riku, you didn't answer me! RIKU!" Sora yelled. But it was futile; his best friend was currently unreceptive to anything. He would be lucky if he even got a response that didn't quite answer the question.

Riku didn't move. He sat in the boat for a few seconds before turning around, a miniscule smirk on his face.

"Wakaranai."

He turned around and began paddling away.

_I'm sorry Sora…I don't want to disappoint you._

"WAIT, RIKU, I DON'T EVEN KNOW ANOTHER LANGUAGE BESIDES ENGLISH! PLEASE! IT'S AN IMPORTANT QUESTION! YOU NEED TO ANSWER IT! DON'T GO! PLEASE RIKU!!"

"Sora, let him be!" Kairi attempted to calm the boy she loved down, "He always speaks in another language when he doesn't want us to know something."

"But Kairi! I have to know! I need to know if what I did was for nothing, if it was in vain! Riku is my best friend!"

"Sora, maybe you should try learning another language then. So far, he's ignored us in Japanese, French, Spanish, and Latin. Try learning one of them!"

As Kairi and Sora debated, Riku sadly ignored his sapphire eyed friend without truly wanting to. Sora had been a difficult subject for him ever since he had his form discovered in the World That Never Was. The adolescent began to think about Kairi instead as he fostered his hatred for her.

_Lately, she's been doing nothing but looking at Sora…I never cared for her anyway, but it's so annoying. I only 'saved her' last year so I could rub it in Sora's face like the ignorant fool I was and still am. I wish she would just shut up…But why am I complaining? At least she remained loyal to her friends through thick and thin…She always stayed true to her heart and herself…_

_Unlike me._

Riku began paddling away, trying to ignore Kairi's voice which rang in his ear like impending doom.

_Did they even care that I left them behind?..._

_Or are they the ones who left me behind?_

Riku began paddling faster, oblivious to the world around him. Finally, he realized that he hadn't been paying attention to where he was paddling. He stopped in order to look around the area.

He had no idea where he was.

The emerald eyed teen swore moodily under his breath, "Where the hell am I?" he sighed, "How did I get myself into this mess?"

_I guess that they were too busy talking to notice that I wasn't heading towards the islands. How oblivious can they get?_

He pondered slightly as he scanned the vast expanse, "I really should get myself into a better mood so I can actually concentrate on where I'm unfortunately going. I'm so useless, it's just stupid."

As Riku tried to make himself feel at least remotely happy so he could go back to Destiny Islands safely, he felt a pang of pain in his left side.

_It's been three months since then…The doctor said I would be fine but that it would still occasionally hurt sometimes._

_But ever since I took that hit for Sora, I've been having nightmares…Black and almost diabolic patterns crawl up my skin starting from my hip to my heart, the source of all my misery and heartbreak…And as soon as the darkness of the patterns overcompensates in my heart, all the grief, all the sadness…_

_It fades away._

_Even so, it leaves a strange hollow feeling that I need to get rid of. All of the anguish in the world seems to fall upon my shoulders. It hurts so badly, but I can't feel it. It rips at my very being until I can't even take it anymore. _

_But I want to feel it. I __**need **__to feel it._

As Riku stared intensely at his surroundings, he deducted that since the sun was setting and he knew that the main island was east, he would try going northeast.

_The neighbors were thinking of sending me to a psychiatrist. I guess they got tired of waking up in the middle of the night because of my screams. But hey, they stopped complaining when I began to suffer from insomnia. They probably thought I was sleeping. What a joke. They don't know the real me._

_At least I never wet the bed like Sora._

_Ha._

As he paddled on, he began to see the silhouette of the main island in the faraway distance. It wretched his miserable heart.

_It's so close, yet so far away into the distance…I don't even know what to feel when I look at it. It's my home, yet it once meant nothing to me and I can't figure out what it means to me now.. _

_I wonder if it will snow anytime soon…We didn't even have a white Christmas. For once in my life, I want to see the purity of the gently falling snow…_

_Could it make that difference I need in my life?_

Suddenly, the emerald orbs of Riku's pale face widened. He felt a violent pain in his chest, no, his _soul_. He immediately began throwing up crimson liquid into the aqua ocean. Out of immense fear, he unzipped his double vest to examine his chest. He gasped in fear.

It was covered in the same black pattern from his dreams.

"No…"

Riku clutched his chest, breathing harshly and shallowly. He was in complete anguish. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead, landing and making ripples in the red puddle in the ocean. He could feel his heart beating fast.

Too fast.

_Am I having a heart attack?_

The pain intensified and the teenager cried out in agony. He could hear a strange voice in his head laughing evilly.

_Why are you so against the nobodies? What did they ever do to you? All we ever wanted were hearts! And you, you take yours for granted. I attacked your hip with the twilight that encircles our empty souls. To pay for your sins, your heart will be sacrificed and given to a nobody who deserves and wants it._

_You said you were tired of your on and off emotional pain. Be grateful for this final action of the Organization XIII…_

Riku whispered angrily, "Xemnas?"

The laughter slowly became more real. Riku's eyes opened wider in horror. An apparition of Xemnas appeared before him. He had had his back to the teen as he stared up into the sky.

Kingdom Hearts had opened it's gates up in the sky in front of them.

"Kingdom Hearts…Who have you decided to give this precious heart to?"

Riku grasped the boat tightly, blood trailing down his mouth.

Xemnas turned around and glared at Riku, "Now, you shall understand what it truly means to not be able to feel anything."

As the nobody disappeared, Riku began to scream. He felt his very heart and soul being ripped out of his body. As blood seemed to pour out of his mouth and land in the red cloudy ocean, he knew that he was fading fast. His body seemed to be twitching as if he were having a seizure. He could feel his eyes rolling into the back of his head. Darkness completely shrouded his vision as he gasped for breath.

_What's happening to me?_

The last thing Riku saw was a man standing over him with spiky hair.

"Yo," the former nobody smirked. His eyes were unreadable.

"You…"

A/N: Is Riku going to die? Who is the nobody that has come back to life? Stay tuned…If that makes any sense. Happy New Year as well! By the way, 'wakaranai' is the impolite way of saying 'I don't know' in Japanese.


	2. Loss

A/N: Here's chapter two! Enjoy it xD. And sorry if I took too long…-hides Super Mario Galaxy- Italics represent thoughts or emphasized words.

**DISCLAIMER**: I own NOTHING.

_**Torn Hearts - Loss**_

"So, he's lost his heart, right? Does anyone here know what Xemnas's 'master plan' was that he somehow managed to go through with even though he faded into oblivion?"

"Don't look at me! It's not like I know. You faded away into oblivion with him. There must have been a way to get out of there. I mean, you're here. That's proof enough that there's a way."

"Hey, Naminé, what's going on with this kid's chain of memories or whatever?"

"I don't know. I mean, most people become a heartless when they lose their hearts. My guess is that his heart was strong enough so his shell kept its human form. Xemnas must have done something so Riku's existence would stay as a nobody instead of becoming a heartless."

"Yeah, yeah. But if his chain of memories is lost, it might change things a bit."

"He might still have his memories depending on how long it took for the nobody process to complete."

"Roxas is right. Roxas didn't have Sora's memories because Sora got his heart back so quickly that he didn't have a chance to obtain them. I have Kairi's memories because it took a while for her to get her heart back, therefore her memories also became mine. Because of what happened to Riku is a bit different, we won't really know until he wakes up. Until then, all we can do is guess."

"At least we know that he's officially a nobody now. Those heart beat machine things or whatever they're called don't work on him. The doctors think all of their machines are broken. But they can't detect a pulse either. They just know he's alive because they detect brain activity."

"Yeah, I guess so. Poor kid. But he is the 'original' keyblade master after all. That's probably why Xemnas chose him."

"Also for the fact that he opposed the Organization. Can't forget that."

"Hey, it looks like he's waking up. Geez, and things were just getting interesting too. Oh well. I was getting hungry anyway. Let's go."

Riku groaned as he opened his eyes. He immediately regretted it. The whole room seemed to be spinning so out of control that he couldn't even comprehend what was going on or where he was. Wherever he was, it was all just a blur of color.

_What happened to me?_

…_I could have sworn I hear voices earlier…Naminé's, Roxas's, and…_

_His. The one who stole my heart._

He clutched the grey and white blur that he was lying on as two people walked through a nearby door.

"And anyway Sora, we don't know when he'll wake up. He seems to have gone through an ordeal of trauma and - Riku, you're awake!"

Riku seemed to have blocked out everything as he was thinking to himself about what was happening.

_Damn…I think that was real…_

_And I do feel strange…_

_And dizzy…_

_But…_

_I think I'm going to throw up._

Sora looked towards Riku's bed and saw his best friend's eyes open, "RIKU!" He smiled gleefully as he ran to Riku.

"How are you feeling? I've been so worried about you!" You've been out for so long, about two weeks and…"

"Sora…" Riku's face turned ashen.

"What's wrong?" Sora asked.

Riku's eyes seemed to be staring right through Sora as they began to mist over. To him, Sora was just a blur of color. Although his ears could hear his best friend speaking, they couldn't understand his words. The swirling world that he couldn't understand slowly became too much for him. He began coughing violently.

Sora became nervous, "Riku? Riku? RIKU! AHHHHH!!"

Blood splattered all over Sora's clothes. Riku began heaving as blood and bile escaped from his lips.

The doctor swore loudly and yelled, "Sora, leave the room! His heart rate is probably going up, but the machines for some reason can't sense his heart rate!" He then paged a few doctors.

Riku began gasping for breath. He couldn't breath and his chest felt heavy. He put his hands to his throat and began to make an odd and pitiful sound. He couldn't comprehend what was happening. All he could see was white mixed with red. He could hear people talking or maybe even screaming but it didn't make a difference. Different colors slowly crept into the scene and he felt like he was being tortured.

_Am I screaming?_

He suddenly felt a 1000 needles being pushed into his throat and his entire world went turned to black.

-line-

Sora ran out of the room and continued running until he made it outside into the parking lot. Kairi was sitting on a bench by a flowerbed.

"How is he?" she asked with an unidentifiable emotion in her voice, "Hey, what happened to your clothes? They're stained with blood!" she exclaimed.

"H-he's not doing v-very w-well," Sora stammered, "He woke up but, I don't even know what's happening to him! Hesatupandgotthisweirddazedlookandstartedcoughingupinsaneamountsofbloodandevengotsomeonemeand…I…" Sora couldn't finish his sentence as he began sobbing.

Kairi barely understood half of what Sora just said but she stood up and hugged him anyway, "He'll be alright, Sora. He's been unconscious for two weeks; something's obviously wrong with him. But the doctors here are good. They have degrees. They'll get him better!" she attempted to console him.

"I'm…I'm so scared!" Sora confessed to her.

"Sora, I'll be by your side no matter what happens. Riku _will _be okay and he _will_ get better. And that's a promise!"

Sora's sapphire eyes seemed to gain some hope, "Heh, I guess you're right! I'm overreacting…"

"I wouldn't lie to someone I love," Kairi smiled as Sora's eyes widened, "Anyway, let's go. We should give Riku some more time to heal."

"Kairi…" the young adolescent's voice trailed off, "Are you saying that…"

"Yes, Sora! I love you and…I think we should go out on a date. Especially since we need each other's emotional support right now. You know what I mean"

"…I love you too."

Kairi laughed and reached out for Sora. He put his hand to his forehead, "Hey Kairi, do you have some painkillers? I have a headache for some reason."

"You probably just got a little too emotional!" the teenage girl laughed, "But you know what? I have a headache too…And it's a bit weird, but you know what Sora? I was sitting on this bench while you went to see Riku and…I blacked out."

Sora's eyes widened, "I blacked out too on my way too Riku's room. But then I woke up in the waiting room."

Kairi began walking towards the exit, "It doesn't matter. Let's just go and get a bite to eat!" She took Sora's hand and kissed him, leaving him pure red. She laughed and took his hand, running the entire time to the nearest fast-food restaurant.

* * *

"So, Doctor Ishida, what exactly is wrong with Riku?"

The doctor sighed, his black hair in front of his eyes, "That's exactly it, Sora, Kairi. We _don't know._ We discovered that three days ago when he went through that attack that something was and is definitely wrong with him internally. But also…From our test…Well, it's obvious that he's suffering from depression."

Kairi looked down at the floor of Doctor Ishida's office. She and Sora were sitting together with their friend's doctor in his office. Neither of them said a word.

"How long is he going to be unconscious?" the royal blue eyed teen asked, ignoring the doctor's previous statement.

"Unless we find out soon what's wrong with him…I don't think he'll ever wake up."

"You mean he's in a coma!?" The patient's best friend stood up, infuriated.

Doctor Ishida slowly nodded as he asked, "Do you have contact with his parents? In the case that his brain no longer shows signs of activity and it's best to cut his life support off, we'll need to contact them."

"We don't know anything about them," the redhead whispered, tears slowly falling from her diamond eyes, "Riku…Riku's always avoided the subject of his parents. He's never believed in straight-up lying so he'll answer us questions we ask about them, but in a language that we don't understand."

"We know that he does have some sort of guardian," Sora continued, "There's clear evidence of that in his house, but he's never mentioned a parent, and we've never met one."

"Do you know if you could reach a guardian that currently is on or could easily make it to Destiny Islands?" the doctor questioned, "Because if not, we have the right to assume a medical proxy to make the decisions for his health. I guess that would make maybe a grandparent or some sort of relative?"

"He doesn't have any relatives," Kairi stared at the floor as he sat back down in his foldable black chair, "Whoever he lives with, that's all he has. We know that for a fact."

Doctor Ishida leaned back in his comfortable office chair, his arms crossed, "That's a bit of a problem for us. You two are underage but if we don't have anyone else, I guess we'll either have to make one of you a proxy, or assign him a temporary guardian."

"I think that I should be his proxy!" Sora cried, "I've known him since we were kids, probably since I was four! I know and understand him the most out of all of us! I think I could do what's best for him!"

"Even if it means shutting down his life support and ending whatever he has left?" Doctor Ishida asked coolly.

"Well…that…you see…" Sora sunk back and put his face in his hands.

"Tell you what," the black haired doctor sat up straight as he clasped his hands together, "I will tell you my medical opinion about everything we do for him, and you guys can decide together with an adult in this hospital about what to do, let it be me or a social worker."

"That sounds great," Kairi smiled sadly as she stood up, "Is that all?"

The doctor dismissed them with a grin. Kairi took her boyfriend's hand and walked out of the room with him as she whispered into his ear, "Sora, I promised, and I intend on keeping my promise. Riku will get better."

Sora nodded and wiped his tears with the back of his hand.

Even though Kairi had promised, the days slowly turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months. The doctors had tried everything, but they couldn't seem to find what was wrong with Riku. One April afternoon, the couple and the doctor stood once again in the room where Riku was staying.

"I'm sorry…But it's almost impossible to wake a coma patient up at this point," Doctor Ishida digressed, "And we just can't seem to figure out what's wrong with him. At this point…It'd be best to turn off his life support. He can't even breathe for himself. His brain is shutting down."

The two held hands as they stared at Riku's pale body. It seemed so sallow and lost in the world…

"I think we'll need to discuss this together alone," Kairi answered, Sora too shaken up to think straight.

"That's fine," Doctor Ishida's brown eyes seemed dull as the three together left the room, "Just give us an answer by tomorrow."

Meanwhile, a mysterious figure ran into the silver haired teen's room stealthily and unnoticed. He sat on a stool beside Riku's bed and took a needle filled with green fluid out of his black jacket pocket. He slowly pricked Riku's ashen skin and inserted half of the substance inside him.

"Hey, kid, wake-up!"

Riku opened his eyes. He had an extreme headache but he could at least see straight. He deduced that he was in a hospital bed as he looked around. He had a tube in his throat so he could breathe. By the looks of it, he had been there a while.

The unhealthy teenager noticed something, or more like a lack of. He felt surprisingly odd. He put his hand to his chest. It felt so…

Hollow.

"Hey, are you listening to me?"

Riku turned to his left to see who was talking to him. He stared at the familiar nobody.

"Axel."

Axel grinned, "Oh, so you remember my name. I'm so honored. And I see that your chain of memories is fine and intact."

"What's happening to me?" Riku demanded to know, his emerald orbs piercing into Axel's skin.

"You're pretty scary for a nobody," he mocked, "Especially those eyes of yours. They could stare at me all day but there's no hatred emitting from them."

"Explain. Now."

"Oh, you've just become a nobody. That's all. You've been in a coma for about…four months maybe? You see, the boss wanted you to understand what it is that we're- no, what _they're_ dealing with. Why it was unfair of you to try and stop us- I mean, _them_ from getting their hearts back. Got it memorized?"

Riku seemed to be unfazed at the situation. He analyzed it instead.

_So it wasn't a dream…Which means that he has my heart. This could mean that... _

"Oh, I get it," Riku said with fake happiness in his voice, "You have my heart. I feel empty. We'll live like this for a period of time until I 'learn my lesson about prejudice against non-somebodies'. Then I'll get my heart back and you'll fade back into oblivion just like you would in a badly written fan fiction. It all makes sense now."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Hey kid, listen. I can get you better if you abide by my little set of rules," Axel's malachite eyes sparkled, "I've already given you a small dosage of the medicine."

The silver haired adolescent knew that Axel wasn't lying; he already felt so much better from the last time he had been awake.

"What do you want from me?"

"All you have to do is promise not to kill yourself. Not like you could anyway. Well, you could, but it'd be pretty hard considering you don't have a heart. You'd have to go through something pretty heinous where you gotta give it your all. Something that you'd have to put your heart into. Of course, you don't have one, which is how we're – I mean nobody's are killed. Got it memorized?"

"That's all you want?" Riku questioned cynically.

"Why not? A pretty fair deal considering that being a nobody is living hell. In your current condition, you can't even die just by bleeding or being stabbed repeatedly. You either live with this medicine I can give you, or you die by sleep."

"What's wrong with me anyway?"

Axel chuckled heartily, "I thought it was obvious. Your body is trying to accept the loss of your heart. Kinda like a drug addict that stops taking all of his drugs right away instead of in small steps. You know, withdrawl. Got it memorized?"

"Whatever. Ok, fine, just give me the medication," Riku rolled his eyes. He didn't know what else to do; he usually made his decisions depending on how he felt at the time. Now, there was nothing left to feel, let alone understand.

_This can't be real…It's all a dream, right? Might as well go along with it._

"I guess you haven't quite realized just what's happened," Axel shook his head as he prepared the needle with the other half of the lime solution, "You don't truly understand the pain of it all which is why you're choosing to live as what you are instead of entering a never-ending sleep."

"Sleep gets kinda boring. Just give me the medication."

"Fine," Axel sighed, "If that's the case…"

"You're in for one hell of a ride."


	3. Awakening

A/N: Sorry for the wait! I've been so busy with school lately. But school's almost out for me, so I've got chapter three for you here! Enjoy it. Warning though. A bit of a yaoi tone in it. Just a bit. It might make you slightly squeamish if you don't like it, but it doesn't pan out into anything. It just looks like yaoi and can be seen that way, but you can take it as friendship or yaoi depending on how you look at it. Look at it as yaoi if you want, and don't if you don't want to. Your choice.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. This includes, Kingdom Hearts, Code Geass, Death Note, and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

_**Torn Hearts – Awakening**_

"If that's the case…You're in for one hell of a ride."

Axel plunged the needle into Riku's chest, squirting all of then poison green liquid into the area where his heart normally would have been. A gleeful smile seemed to be permanently etched onto his face as the needle went farther and farther into the silver haired boy's chest.

Riku blinked. There was no pain. Simply the sensation of ice travelling throughout his body, a morbid feeling of never-ending emptiness…

And then there was nothing.

"Hey, Axel, just one question. About that badly written fan fiction I suggested earlier…is it really…"

The adolescent closed his eyes suddenly as the former nobody laughed whole-heartedly, "Is it really true? That's for you to find out. I'm not into fan fiction or happy endings. We'll just have to see what happens. Got it memorized?" Axel pulled the needle out like a sword emerging from its prey.

"That green stuff makes you fall asleep like that so your body can reset. It makes your body able to cope and run without your heart. An emergency thing for strong nobodies who just need that extra push. Oh, and of course, I didn't tell you that your body might reject the potion and kill you, but what difference does it make anyway? Either way, you're dead inside. You probably won't care much in the end."

The spiky-haired man looked around to make sure the room was empty before pulling up Riku's hospital gown so he could see his legs. He took his boxers and pulled them down slightly, looking for the diabolical black marks that had once covered Riku's body like a disease."

A single mark like a cursed tattoo of like that of teardrops was all that was left of what had happened.

LINE

That April night, Sora sat in Riku's hospital room as he had done every night for what seemed like forever. He was curled up into a ball, sobbing beside the still bed. His backpack lay on the floor, loose papers from messy binders spread out over the floor, although the pages were empty and had no work done on them. A few tests were among the mess with large red F's written on them.

Tears poured from the somber boy's eyes, soaking his clothes, his hair, and his body. He was so pale and clammy that the dark circles under his eyes seemed to pop out like black on white. He unfurled himself from a curled up ball to a position where he could hug his legs and rest his head on his knees to stare at Riku's unmoving body. Tears spilled ever faster from his pure blue eyes.

"Riku…They're taking you off life support in a few minutes. They don't think you'll make it. It's been too long. If you can hear me…wake up. Please!"

His body remained still.

"You know…Riku…You never answered my question that I asked you four months ago. Whether your regret coming back to the islands with me or not. It was a stupid question, but it's important to me! And now…I'm scared. Scared that you'll never live to answer my question. Scared that Kairi was wrong and that she can't keep her promise. Scared that you're going to die. Scared that my life…is over. It is without you."

"Riku…I need you. So please," Sora began to choke on his words from crying, "Wake up. It's not too late. It's never EVER too late for you to change things. If you die, then I die. We're best friends. We do everything and anything together, even if it means I have to go with you to death. I don't want to leave everyone behind, but Riku…I don't know if I can make it without you. "

The teary eyed fifteen year old watched Riku, praying for a miracle.

Nothing happened.

Sora sighed, "What were you doing that night anyway? December 31st…Kairi and I had gone ahead to Tidus' party, expecting you to be there. But you never came. And as soon as that New Year's ball dropped and confetti sprinkled in they dark midnight sky, I got a phone call. Riku, someone going for a swim had seen something floating out in the distance, and they had swum out for a couple of miles. Why were you so far out there? I think the person was a competitive swimmer. They had their cell phone in a bag and called for an ambulance while standing on your boat, and then you were rescued. You had swallowed a ton of water and nearly drowned, but they could tell that you were out there for a few hours, so you had only fallen in the water a few minutes before. They think you had a heart attack or even a stroke and were leaning on the edge until you fell over a few minutes before. You were brought here to Destiny Islands Hospital…but they couldn't do anything. They fixed your blood pressure, stabilized your body, everything like that. But they couldn't find a pulse. You had brain activity, so they knew you were alive, but no pulse. It was too dangerous to do open heart surgery in your condition to see what was happening."

"Then you woke up two weeks later. I was so happy, but you were out of control. You couldn't stop throwing up and your eyes…Your eyes…They were dead. And you've been in a coma ever since then. I've come here everyday, even skipping school sometimes. I even failed an exam and have to go to summer school, but you never woke up. And everyday I've had to see you slowly get thinner, slowly need that machine to breathe, to live more than ever. Your IV pouches got bigger, and you got thinner until today. Today could be the end, or a new beginning."

"Kairi promised me that you'd be with us again, that'd you'd open your eyes and live. I thought that promises were like a binding contract…I didn't realize that they could be broken. I'm so naïve," the boy smiled innocently, "If I hadn't woken up that day, I think I could have died happy, but now everyday is a living hell for me. And sometimes I ask myself this; what could I have done to prevent this? Why didn't I stop you from leaving? Why did I have to ignore your feelings like that? Why didn't I try harder? Is it my fault for everything? Why did I have to ask that _stupid_ question? So please, Riku, wake up. Don't let this all be for nothing. I know you can do anything; you're strong."

The room was completely silent with the exception of his harsh breathing. It was completely still except for the heaving of his chest.

Suddenly, there was the sound of something opening.

Sora jumped as he turned around. Kairi had entered the room, her blue eyes staring into her boyfriend's bloodshot ones.

"Any luck?" she asked rather cheerfully considering the situation.

Sora didn't answer. He looked down solemnly and asked between hiccups "When are…they taking him off…of it? That thing…"

"Now actually," Kairi replied, "I'm sorry, Sora…"

Doctor Ishida entered the room quietly, "Are you ready?" he asked the two. He moved towards the life support machine and prepared to turn it off. Kairi nodded while Sora did nothing.

Sora stared in shock and horror as he flicked the switch.

The whole world seemed to stop turning. Sora stood up and reached out for his best friend, but it seemed that he was getting farther and farther away from him.

He was gone.

Everything seemed to be in motion again and Sora began to shake Riku's dead body, "PLEASE! RIKU! WAKE UP! I CAN'T……I…I LO-"

A frozen hand grabbed Sora's tearstained hand. Malachite eyes stared into Sora, stripping his soul to nothing.

"Riku?"

Riku's eyes remained uncaring and emotionless. They looked strange; as if there was an apathetic anger lying within them, yet there was nothing. They seemed to almost be…

Dead.

Sora ignored the eyes before him expressed (or the lack of expression) and screamed in joy, crying ever harder, "RIKU!! YOU'RE ALIVE!!" he glomped him with furious strength, nearly choking him.

"…Riku. You're awake?" Kairi seemed to be absolutely shocked, a strange emotion carved onto her porcelain face.

Riku simply lay there, letting Sora glomp him. His eyes were so empty that it was as if he were gazing off into the distance or blind. He seemed extremely lethargic and exhausted; his eyes were drooping slightly.

"Excuse me, Sora!" the short haired doctor ran to pull Sora off of Riku, "Could you and Miss Kairi leave the room please?"

The couple left the room together, a huge smile on the brunette's face and a blank look on the other's face. They sat in the waiting room together. Kairi watched the people and patients pass by, some happy, some miserable, some healthy and some in wheelchairs while Sora began to chat excitedly.

"Oh my God, Kairi, you were right! He…he's alive! I'm so…so happy!!" He began to cry even harder like a naïve little child, "Now, he can answer my question, I can survive, Kairi, we can go play the latest video games and watch that really cool anime! You know, the one where that guy controls people and tries to get his country back. It's supposed to be really cool and now I can watch it with my best friend! I hear it won first place in that awards show, the one where that '_let sleeping Gods lie' a_nime and the '_I wanna reign over the world' _anime won second and third!

"Why can't you watch this 'cool' anime with me?" Sora's girlfriend asked, a slight tone of anger in her voice.

"Um, you see…Kairi," he fumbled with his words, "It's just that my relationship with you and my relationship with Riku is different. It's like…I just feel different about the two of you and…never mind.

"Continue."

"It's hard to express my words! I don't know. The way I feel about you is normal; girlfriend-ish, I think. The way I feel about Riku is strange. It's not quite like he's an older brother. Or maybe it is. I don't know, but it's like he's closer to me than that," he beamed with purity in his voice.

"Well then," Kairi huffed, "What was it that you were going to say earlier? You were like 'I can't, I lo- something. What was that all about?"

Sora blushed intensely, "Excuse me, but I need to use the bathroom."

The minutes passed into hours. When Sora finally came back, he said absolutely nothing to Kairi and sat as far from her as he could. When Doctor Ishida finally came into the waiting room with a slightly confused look on his face, "Excuse me, but would only one of you come with me please?"

Sora stood up immediately, leaving Kairi without a word and walked with the familiar doctor until they were outside of Riku's room.

"Sora," the doctor whispered, "Riku's all good to go. Despite his prior condition, he seems to be fine. It's strange; I've never had a patient like him. I guess this should be an idiopathic thing of the past, correct? But I want him to stay for a few days to make sure he's fine. We're going to run some tests, but remember he's suffering from depression. I don't know if he still is, but you might want to talk to him, unless you feel he should get professional help. Either is fine; don't be afraid to answer."

The spiky haired teenager nodded with a sad smile on his face, "He's not exactly the type of person who really likes talking. But I think he'll talk to me."

"Good," the Doctor Ishida replied, "I'll be running some tests while you talk to him," he left Sora to walk into the room alone.

When he opened the door, Riku was sitting at the edge of his bed. He had some color back in his face, but barely any considering he was naturally pale. He wore one of those long hospital dresses, but had a white blanket around his shoulders. His long hair covered his face as he stared at the floor. He looked up as Sora came in and sat beside him.

"Hey, Riku," Sora put on a fake smile with a tinge of sadness lingering in his voice.

His best friend didn't reply.

"You know…You've been gone for four months. It's April now. People have missed you at school. But you're smart. You should be able to catch up. We already had exams, but you were sick. You can rewrite them. Kairi had your class representative take a double set of notes so that you can get caught up."

Still no reply.

"…I took Japanese to try and understand what you're saying. I'm pretty sure you said that you're half-Japanese, half-European. You're more Japanese than Europen since you could be like fifty percent Japanese and then 10 percent German, 13 percent British etcetera. Japanese is good for video games and imported stuff, so I took that up first. I started while I was sitting here in the hospital for 12 hours everyday. I never slept," he grinned, "I think I only ever slept during class. I've haven't been there for a week or so. I've lost track of time. But I know that I've learned a lot."

Only his own voice echoed in the room, as if replying to him.

"Riku, is something bothering you?"

_Everything. Everything's bothering me, Sora. _

"Sora," Riku spoke his first word in four months, "Go away."

Those two words were a slap across the face to the fifteen year old. He cringed, his eyes red and puffy, "You…You can't make me leave. I won't leave. Not until you tell me the answer."

"To what?" Riku snapped, clearly apathetic but trying to seem angry.

_What is anger anyway? I once knew it so well, too well…But now it's evaded me and nothing's left._

"Do you regret coming back to Destiny Islands with me?"

"Nescio. Non curo."

"RIKU!" Sora stood up, crying once again, "I don't want to hear that! I want an answer in English, not in Latin! Stop trying to hide things from me! Do you hide it to torture me, to protect me, or what? If you care about me…please, just tell me the truth. Do you regret coming back to Destiny Islands with me or not?"

Riku sighed," Tell me, why is it so important to you? Maybe I'll answer you if you tell me. Maybe."

_I can't feel it. Emotion. I won't feel it if I tell Sora the truth. I won't feel pain. It doesn't matter anymore._

Sora took a deep breath, "It's important for me to know if I wasted that year looking for you to bring you home. To know if what I did was in vain, if it had any purpose at all. If I've wasted my life only to gain personal satisfaction or if you're glad too. Riku, I just want to know if you're happy or not."

_I'm sorry, Sora…_

"Sora, I…"

_I probably would have thought that if I could feel. But now, I can't. There's no sorrow in this. No joy either. Just an uncaring and apathetic feeling if that counts as one. Haha. Is feeling apathetic really a feeling at all? It means to not care, which is to not feel. What a strange place this world is._

"Back then when I got my hip injured by Xemnas, I knew right then that it would be a mistake to come back. And look what's happened. I am just a mess of torment and angst. I'm a freak and it's a never ending hell. I hate myself for that."

The world seemed to crash down onto the younger person's heart, destroying him. The tension in the room was enormous.

_It doesn't hurt._

"Thank-you," he smiled before running out of the room in tears.

_It doesn't hurt at all._

The silver-haired teenager stared at his hands as if they were bloodstained, trying to understand what he had become.

_I…_

_I'm a monster._

A/N: And that's where I'm ending the chapter! I feel bad for that naïve kid I hate so much; he's too nice and caring and should grow up. Thanks for reading; hopefully my updates will be faster. And what Riku said means, "I don't know, I don't care."


	4. Broken

A/N : So it's all planned out now. I spent most of my day planning out the entire story. There will be eight chapters and an epilogue if people want. If you want to see an epilogue, review the final chapter, because I'm not sure if it's worth writing or not.

Also, in Japan, you can live alone at a younger age. And Japanese public high schools require tuition.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, "We Are Broken" by Paramore, iPods, convertibles, Wal-Mart, or anything else but the plot of this story.

**_Torn Hearts – Broken_**

"What!? But you can't do that!"

"You heard me," Riku stated, "I want out. Stop the tests and discharge me."

The nobody and his doctor were sitting in the familiar white hospital room. It was the next morning after what had happened with Sora, April 6th. The pair was arguing about whether to discharge Riku or not while Sora and Kairi were at school.

"But Riku," Doctor Ishida pleaded, "It'd be too dangerous. We need to find out what's wrong with you! Even if what you had has passed, what if it happens again? You're not in any condition to even leave this room. Do you realize just how sick you were?"

The silver-haired attempted to glare at the person standing in front of his bed, "I've told you before, I know what's wrong with me and it's none of your concern. Do you think I can even afford this treatment? I don't have that kind of money at all. I'd be lucky to even be able to pay ten dollars on the bill. I'm poor. Less fortunate than others. Deprived. Whatever. So discharge me. Now."

"You were in a coma for months!" the black haired exclaimed, "You can't just leave! There are financial plans and insurance companies to help you out. Your friends were so worried about you. If you die, I think that they'd sue the hospital. Do you want that to happen? Just think about it."

"I've thought about it. Legally, you have to discharge me if I say I want to be discharged. I'll sue the hospital myself if you don't let me leave. I don't care anymore," Riku retorted.

"But…fine," the man with spectacles sighed, "You can leave now then. Just talk to the people at the front." He left the room to let Riku change within privacy.

Riku stood up from his bed. He ripped his hospital gown off and got his clothes out from a set of drawers beside him.

_So I guess my new life is starting now._

He took his black skinny jeans and put them on around his now thin frame. They fell off immediately.

_I guess I'll need to work out again. I lost muscle tone._

He slipped a silver belt through his jeans, then grabbed his black T-shirt and slipped through it. It was now a size too big.

_I need to look and act normal. Don't know how I'll pull that off. What is normal anyway? Just a meaningless word…_

Riku grabbed a few things that his friends had brought him from his school locker, the place where he kept his valuables. His house didn't have any security, so it wasn't safe to leave anything there. He stuffed them carelessly into a plastic bag and walked out of his room. He sped towards the entrance, ignoring the people he bumped into. He saw a woman sitting at the reception desk talking on the phone with someone. According to her nameplate, her name was Ms. Demegawa. Riku sighed and strolled towards her.

"I'm discharging myself."

Ms. Demegawa glanced at him, her mouth falling open. She quickly hung up the phone and stared at him, "Aren't you that mystery patient everyone's talking about?"

_Great. People are talking about me._

"Just discharge me."

"Oh, you're little Riku Takada, aren't you?" the woman cooed with malice, "The doctors are arguing about what to do with you, you know. They know what you are, Riku."

"You," Riku's eyes widened as he backed away, "You…"

The woman's pale skin seemed to be fading into a darker tone. Her short brown hair grew out within seconds and became an eerie silver color. Her orange eyes seemed to glow.

"It's been a while, Riku."

_Wh…What the hell?_

"Ansem…Xehanort," Riku whispered before breaking into a run, racing out of the hospital.

"Wait, sir! You need to sign these!" Ms. Demegawa yelled, waving papers.

The adolescent ran and ran until he was off the hospital property, passing several houses. He collapsed on the ground, choking on the frigid air. He looked up at the blue sky.

_That wasn't fear. Or anxiety. But I needed to run…Was it out of confusion? That's not possible…_

_Nothing surprises me anymore._

Riku stood up walked through the neighborhood, realizing it to be his own. He silently continued, the sun burning his pale skin. Glancing at the beautiful gardens and vegetation around him, he sighed. Riku dug through his pockets and found his iPod. It had been a gift to him from Sora and Kairi for his fifteenth birthday. He was only able to put songs on it through Sora's computer since he didn't have on himself. He turned it on and began listening to "We Are Broken" by Paramore.

_'Cause we are broken, what must we do to restore our innocence?_

He soon stopped walking after recognizing the house closest to him to be his own. Riku's house was small with only one-floor, extremely insignificant. It was made out of cracked and faded scarlet bricks and had a rotting chimney coming out of its roof. The garden contained only one withered flower and a crooked tree. Everything looked the same, until he finally noticed a red convertible parked in the driveway. It was unusual considering he had never even had enough to afford a car.

_Oh, and the promise we adored, give us life again 'cause we just wanna be whole. _

_This house is broken…_

_Just like me._

He ran up the small steps to open the door, discovering it to be locked. The door wasn't even able to lock before. Riku turned his iPod off to put it in his pocket and stepped back to look at his house. Something was wrong.

_I can't be at the wrong house. What the hell's going on?_

Suddenly, the door opened in front of him. A man with spiky red hair opened the door, green marks under each malachite eye. He smirked.

"Yo, nobody."

"Axel," Riku felt no anger or surprise towards him.

There was only nothing.

"Come in," Axel stepped aside as to let Riku into his own house. He obliged and walked in, not expecting to see what he did.

His once white and peeling walls were now painted in a vibrant but welcoming crimson color. Brand new leather furniture replaced his ancient furnishings that were falling apart. The teenager ran out of the entrance to explore each of the other three rooms. His whole house had been completely redesigned and decorated as if the owner, also known as himself, had money. A plasma screen TV with all three next-generation consoles sat in the den, replacing the old black and white television he used to own. And there was even central air conditioning now.

"What the _hell _did you do to _my house_?" Riku asked.

Axel smiled, "Sit down," he pointed to the sofa.

The two sat down and Axel began to speak, "Sorry about the front of the house,; I haven't finished redoing everything yet. So, I figured this much out when I bought your house. Your parents are…

"What the hell?" Riku interrupted, his emerald eyes burning holes into Axel, "You bought my house?"

"Ooh, you're _scary _when you're angry," Axel shuddered, laughing, "Let me finish. Your parents are dead, and your sister, Aya, left you a few years ago. She sent you money and you lived with the maid. But she stopped sending you money and left you poor, barely able to afford tuition. So you lived in this dying house."

Riku sighed, "Pretty much."

"Details," the former nobody batted his eyelashes, "Pretty please?"

Riku suddenly felt a surge of energy run through his body. He started sweating, his breathing becoming harsher.

_What is this?_

"Later," Riku replied, his eyes darting towards the window, "Someone's coming."

The doorbell rang cheerily through the well-furnished house.

_I never even had a doorbell._

"Yup," Axel called as he stood up, strutting towards the door. He opened it and grinned.

"Yo, Roxas, Naminé."

The adolescent stood up, his eyes wide. He watched as the nobodies of Sora and Kairi walked in through the doorway.

"Hey Axel," Roxas was grinning, ignoring Riku completely, "So, as you promised, we're gonna play that game today, right? You know I'm going to beat you; I have experience with guitars."

"Oh, so it does work that way?" Axel said coolly, but without malice, "When you join with your other, you can feel again. And you're less emo than before. And by the way, it's supposed to be harder to play when you know guitar. Got it memorized?"

"Hey!" Roxas laughed, shoving Axel playfully, "So, we should get some popcorn and…"

Riku suddenly could not hear the couple as if he had tuned them out or pressed the mute button on them. A strange sense was flowing through his body, and he could almost swear that his eyes were moist.

"Hello, Riku."

The emerald eyed boy looked up to see a beautiful blonde girl in a white dress standing before him.

"Naminé."

_To think that before any of this had happened, I…_

_I loved her._

"Riku? Are you crying?"

Riku looked around to realize that it was eerily quiet. The best friends had left to go play in the basement that Axel had recently built. He and Naminé were alone.

The pale teenager reached to touch his face, only to realize it to be wet with tears.

_Tears?_

"I guess," was all he could say, "I thought nobodies weren't supposed to feel."

"It's strange," Naminé sat beside him, "Nobodies are the most different sort of life form in this universe. We can't feel, yet we may act as if we can feel after being in this form for a long time. But even without feelings, we can still cry. We can still feel in a way. I guess it may be some sort of outlet for what's left of us."

"Hmn."

"Riku, I'm sorry," Riku's former love confessed, "I never wanted you to end up like this. But the reason why they did this to you is…Is because you're Sora's best friend. They figured it would affect him strongly and make him regret what he did to them."

"Naminé," Riku stood up, ignoring her words, "I'm going to the play island. Tell Axel to come. I'll be there a while."

"By the way, we came now because we figured you wouldn't want to see Sora and Kairi. They were coming to see you, but Roxas and I interfered. They should be unconscious outside their school somewhere."

"Thanks," Riku walked out the door.

The nobody kicked a pop can as he walked in the center of the empty street.

_I wish I could still love her._

He picked up the pace, and broke into a run.

_She saved me from myself._

_I remember, back then, so long ago, yet only yesterday, I saw Naminé in that castle. Castle Oblivion. She had always been beautiful in my eyes, but then, she made me see myself for who I was. She offered me a **choice, **something that I never got from anyone or anything else. She let me choose for myself, but not in a way that made me good or bad, on the path of right or wrong like DiZ had. She didn't have me just tossed in the ocean of fate like the heartless had. She made me learn who I was and then, when I made the choice to help my friends, she helped me without asking why. I always loved her. _

_But now, there's nothing._

Before he knew it, Riku was sitting on the crooked paopu tree on the play island. Gazing at the brilliant afternoon sun before him, he smirked.

_That much hasn't changed. Getting lost in my own thoughts until I realize that time has passed._

_If I keep on doing that, maybe my life will end sooner._

The pale adolescent stood up and walked across the bridge , strolling along the shore. He stopped to pick up a handful of sand, letting it fall between his fingers. He sat on the ground and stared into the sun, letting his eyes be blinded by the sparkling light that was intensified by the reflection on the ocean.

Riku let out a bloodcurdling scream towards the sky, screeching until his throat became raw. Even then, he still shrieked, his voice filled with pain and hurt, anger and sorrow, regret and yet, nothingness.

He pounded the ground with his fist, only hurting himself due to his loss of muscle. He put his arms around himself as if to hold himself together, to not crumble into dust Not realizing it, the nobody's fingernails were digging deep into his own skin, drawing forth blood.

Only whimpering softly now, Riku rocked himself back and forth, still holding himself together. He let himself go warily, and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a leather sheath and removed it to reveal a shining silver knife. Raising it above his right wrist, he suddenly felt a strong hand grip his white hand.

Looking behind him, he found himself looking straight into bright chlorophyll eyes.

"Tsk tsk," Axel shook his head, "I told you that you gotta stay alive. Promise me three months of your time and then I'll let you kill yourself."

"It wouldn't have killed me anyway," Riku objected, "You said that nobodies can survive a lot more because we don't exist. And anyway, I wanted to talk to you," he sheathed the knife and put it back into his pocket.

"Likewise," Axel sat down beside him, "You've got a lot of angst. Seriously, I've never heard a nobody cry like that. Amazing stuff, kid."

Riku didn't reply.

"I went to your school. Told them I'm your guardian. You're going to do your exams next week for, I think they said English, math, music, and science. You didn't miss too much in January since exams were a month away, but I got a package from your teachers for this semester. They also gave me a binder of notes and assignments that Sora got you from your other classes. If you get all that done quickly, you should pass your courses and not have to go to summer school. Oh, and your courses now are gym, history, Latin, and something or other. And you're eligible to learn to drive."

"Since when are you my guardian?" the sixteen year old asked, his shoulders damp with his own blood.

"Since I signed some papers when you were in a coma. I figured you should have someone looking out for you so you keep our promise to live on."

"Whatever. Look, you wanted to hear the story of my life, and I'm actually willing to tell you. Listen."

"I've lived here my entire life. I had my dad and an older sister named Aya. We had a good life as the richest people on this island. But my mother had died giving birth to me, and for that, my dad and sister hated me. My dad abused my physically and my sister mentally. So, I met Sora when I was five. Being the dumbass he is, he never noticed me to be injured or sad. At least until my arm was broken, but he never really asked about it. His mom noticed, so she called child services. She had heard the way my sister talked to me and figured my dad was beating me. I had several bruises and broke bones a lot. I guess I was sad which is how she knew. My dad died of alcohol poisoning right before he was supposed to go to jail. I was around eight at this point," Riku took a deep breath, "So, my sister was around eighteen. An adult. She made us move out of the house since our father was dead and we didn't have a steady income, although he left us a hefty inheritance. Or left _her. _They both despised me. She sold our house for a lot, and we moved into that house you just bought. Well, _I _moved in there. As soon as she had the house under her name, she hired a maid and left me. She sent me about a thousand dollars a month for the maid and the house. I don't know where she went. But one day, maybe three years later, the money stopped coming in. The maid left. I was…alone. There was nothing I could do. I got a pathetic job as a paper boy. I had stashed away some money, so I could afford the basic food. I never used the lights, barely watched TV or used water as to make the bills cost less. I ate at Sora's house often. His mom always pitied me, and his dad was very prejudiced, therefore he hated me for being albino. I was lucky that Sora's mom had forbid him and Kairi from going to my house. I guess she knew. Although I let Sora in my house once…But that's another story. The neighbors hated me for 'killing' my mother and they hated the way I looked.

"I eventually got a fulltime job at Wal-Mart when I was fourteen. It's open twenty-four hours here, so I worked there for about nine hours after school. I lived on energy drinks since I barely got enough sleep to go to school, go to work, and do homework. I amazingly managed to still do well in school. I'll blame the fact that I'm gifted. And that's when everything changed. I was taken, no, I enveloped myself within the darkness. And you know the rest."

"Harsh," Axel admitted, "I'll let you know the rest of the story, the part that you don't seem to know. Aya died. You hadn't claimed the house, so it was on sale. I bought it and now that brings us to here."

"What?" Riku voice seemed to echo through the air.

_So she did die. Not a surprise. Yet it is._

"How?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter. All that matters is that she's dead. She left the money to her boyfriend which is why you got nothing. So, why did you willingly tell me this anyway? You're not the type to do that."

"Because," Riku looked away, "I trust you. You have my heart. I have to trust you with it or I'll never get it back."

Axel nodded, "True. But who knows, I may never give it back…" he laughed cheerily.

"Hey, Axel," the teenager looked up at Axel, "Is it possible for nobodies…to feel?"

Axel scoffed, "To feel? Nobodies don't exist. They're remnants of the past. Yet," he paused, "There is a strange way that nobodies can feel. Nobodies can cry, or feel determined. Nobodies can feel, yet there's nothing. You are an experiment of Xemnas, so who knows. You might feel at some points, and when you do, it'll be one hell an experience. All the emotions you've missed before because you were too busy feeling nothing. Got it memorized?"

"What is it like…to feel?"

The redhead suddenly beamed, laughter and mischief dancing in his eyes, "Oh, it's indescribable. To feel…It's like I understand something. I exist. I am whole. I am human. It's…the most wonderful thing in the world," soft tears began to fall silently from his green eyes.

Riku gaped slightly, and then pushed himself to rest his head on Axel's chest.

Axel simply smiled. He could feel Riku's blood from his shoulder dampening his own clothing, but it didn't matter.

"Hey, why were you mutilating yourself earlier?"

"Because I'd rather feel pain than nothing. I may not be able to feel emotion, but I can feel pain. Pain…is wonderful. Pain makes me human too."

"Oh, I see then."

"I saw Xehanort earlier, you know, Xemnas's other."

"You were hallucinating. You used to be one being. Obviously you'll see him, but he wasn't really there."

A few silent minutes later, the adult asked his junior, "Why are you lying on my chest?"

"Because I can hear my heart beating within you."

_You actually care. That's something Sora never did. He just ignored my pain out of his own selfishness._

_Thank-you._

A/N: That's the end of the chapter! Riku actually said thank-you o.O. When did Sora go into Riku's house? So, please R/R! Next chapter: Nostalgia.


	5. Nostalgia

A/N : I'm going to try and get as many chapters up as I can because I want to work on another story (specifically, maybe a one-shot SasuSaku and then a ficcy of NaruSasu!) I love to write angst and stuff, but I want to do some fluff and yaoi to broaden my writing. So enjoy it please XD. This is the last chapter before I get to the climatic stuff.

F.O.B. means Fresh Off the Boat just so you know.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

_**Torn Hearts – Nostalgia**_

"Hey, he's back!"

"And I heard that he got the highest average score in the entire grade on his exams, and he was in the hospital for months!"

"RIKU!"

Riku Takada walked down the staircase of the old high school for the first time after being away for months. People were staring at him, talking about him. Fangirls were screaming more vigorously than before. Rumors and gossip were flying around Destiny Islands High about what had happened to him. Sora and Kairi had never explained while teachers had only said that he was on extended absence due to a health condition.

_It's all the same, but it's so different._

_It's nostalgic, but new. _

"_**Yo, how were your exams?" Axel asked, smirking, "Did you choke?"**_

"_**They were easy," the nobody replied.**_

"_**You go back to school April 16th, a few days from now. Try to act normal in front of Sora and Kairi, for both our sakes."**_

"RIKU!" Sora smiled as he ran to meet Riku at the end of the staircase, "What's up? I haven't seen you since you first woke up at the hospital! Everytime I tried to see you, I don't know, but I got like weird headaches and…fell asleep. And when that didn't happen, your door was actually locked for once! Maybe you should take your important stuff from you locker home an-"

_I can't do this._

The silver haired teen, dressed in well-fitting blue jeans, ripped black T-shirt, and had white armbands on each arm, pushed his best friend aside to go to his next class.

_I don't know what to say._

"Wait!" Sora ran after him, grabbing his arm as the final bell rang, "Kairi's not here. I need to talk to you."

Riku's emerald eyes glared at beautiful azure ones, but glanced away, "Sora, save it. I'm not who I used to be. Just…leave me alone."

"But why? You're probably still tired from all that you went through. You were in a long coma! But I'll help you out and by the way-"

"SORA!" Riku said firmly, "How about I say it like this? GO. AWAY."

Sora's eyes filled with tears and concern, "You know, Riku, I sometimes cry myself to sleep thinking about you. Wondering how you've been doing. I've tried so hard to help you, but you're pushing me away! Why?"

Riku replied, realizing that the halls had emptied, "I said, I'm not who I used to be. I changed that night when I first…lost it all. I can't be your friend anymore. Save yourself by walking away right now."

_Damn. I'm late for class__. Again._

"Then who are you!?" Sora yelled, "Tell me! I'm living on espresso and chocolate to catch up in school after not doing any of my homework when you were in the hospital! Just let me be your friend again…please. If I walk away now, I'll only lose myself. That's what I was going to say to you in the hospital. I lose myself without you. You're the one that holds me together."

The nobody paused momentarily, "Goodbye, Sora."

_It's easier this way. I won't have to act like something I'm not._

_I am nothing There's nothing for me to be but emptiness.._

He walked away, Sora still yelling after him. Suddenly, he noticed that he had bumped into something. Someone. Looking up, he was staring at the face of his Latin teacher.

"You're supposed to be in class now," she lectured, "Yet you're here right outside my class with this boy yelling at you."

_This is why I gave you a chance to walk away. So we wouldn't have to go through this. So leave me alone._

"Sorry," Riku shrugged, "This guy is precisely why I'm late, especially on my first day back. He wouldn't stop yelling at me, now matter how many times I tried to walk away."

_I don't even remember this teacher's name._

…_What is her name? It's not important._

The teacher nodded her head at her student and glared at Sora's pained face, shutting the classroom door.

_God. This is stupid._

Riku Takada was surrounded by flocking females that wouldn't leave him alone.

"Are you okay?"

"Sit with us!"

"What was wrong with you?"

"Tell us!"

_Things have changed from a few years ago where I was hated._

_Lunchtime better not always be like this._

Riku pushed the girls away, which only made them scream louder. He sat at the closest empty table, the one in the corner, and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen.

"Ooh, he's so quiet and mysterious!"

"Is he playing hard to get?"

_I wish they'd shut up._

_Now to work on this Latin homework. Writing a poem in English and while retaining it's meaning, convert it to Latin._

Riku began to write away on the piece of paper, trying to write a good color emotion poem.

_I can't do __this either._

He read out what he had written so far, wincing, "And the color blue represents the cold lonely pain. Unlike red, which is like that fobby Asian hair, or green which is money."

"What're you doing?"

Riku jumped, not expecting to hear a voice so close to him. He spun around to see Kairi grinning, holding Sora's hand.

The sixteen year old narrowed his eyes, "Are you two dating?"

Kairi gasped, "Sora never told you?" She frowned at Sora who simply blushed.

"No."

"Does it bother you?"

"No."

The couple sat down with Riku. Riku ignored them and continued to try and write his poem on the other side of the paper.

"So, doing homework?" the redhead asked.

No response.

"How's your first day back so far?" Sora questioned carefully, his face still in anguish.

Still no response.

Suddenly crumpling up his paper, Riku said carelessly, "I gotta go."

"Stop running!" Kairi called defiantly, "You keep on ignoring Sora and I! You say you're trying to get us to leave you alone, but you're just running to protect yourself from getting hurt."

Everyone in the cafeteria turned to stare at Kairi.

"When you almost died back in December, you, Sora and I realized just how fragile human life is! If you think that you should cut your ties with other people so you don't hurt yourself when you die, then you're wrong. This is the flavor of life. There is no life without death. And yet, people are able to live with people they love. You're running from both us and _yourself_. Why don't you look me in the eye and tell me this; are you really happy this way?"

The cafeteria was absolutely silent. Riku dropped his pen, but it seemed like it was falling in slow motion. It clattered on the ground, echoing throughout the room.

His jade eyes mocked hers, brimming with nothingness if that was even possible, "You're the one that's wrong. I'm not cutting my ties; It's something else that I'm cuttting. I'm not running away from you to protect myself. I'm pushing you away so you two can live your lives in peace. I have people and friends I can identify with, and they're not you. Oh, and I'll never be happy. More than you know."

He left the room silently, the people in his way moving to make a path for him.

As soon as he was of the room, Riku made a run for it to the boy's bathroom, the white walls and tacky yellow lockers passing like a blur. He ran into the one closest to him, the one that nobody ever went into and sat on the floor. The lights flickered upon the tiled floor, blinding him. He took the sheathed knife and quickly ripped the cloth off. The adolescent pulled the armbands off of his wrist and let the dagger slice through his pale skin over and over again until sweat began to pour down his clammy face.

_It hurts._

He cut the measly remainders of his skin on his left wrist, letting all the skin become jagged and loose. Blood spilled onto the white floor, staining it for all eternity. Grimacing in pain, he took the blade and shoved it into his right wrist, skinning himself.

_Stab. Stab. Stab._

He screamed in pain, and grabbed his piece of paper, beginning to write his poem in his own crimson liquid.

_Black. The most human color._

_It is one, it is all. All colors mixed together. It is the darkest because it makes you focus on yourself and what you are. Hope, fury, melancholy, joy, confusion, vengefulness, _

_Everything._

_People fear and hate it for they don't understand it. The truth of the human heart. People are black, and black is human. People turn away from it because they're afraid to face themselves. People who embrace it are embracing themselves and are not afraid to understand. _

_It's life._

_Purple. A mysterious color. One that calls upon a deep sensual feeling. _

_Navy. The most lonely of the colors. The one that darkens everything, but lets you see a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel. _

_Blue. The most depressing of the colors. It makes you feel cold, disturbed, icy, yet free. Free to fly in the open sky._

_Green. A color of opposition. The furious envy, yet the peaceful hope._

_Yellow. Happiness. A warm and fuzzy color, the one that will backstab us all._

_Orange. The color of summer, the one that represents fire and heat. One that makes people have fun, yet one that can kill us all._

_Red. The irate color of anger, torment, blood. Bloodshed, war. Dying, tormenting, screaming._

_Pink. The color of 'cuteness', the color that people don't know how to align themselves with. The one that people mock, yet hold close. The most tortured after black._

_And white. White. The most corrupted of all colors. No emotion. No thoughts. Nothing._

_Nothing at all._

_People hide behind it to try and feel pure within the nothingness, to vanquish their sins, yet it's the most unholy and demonic. There's nothing there but oblivion. Nothing. _

_But death._

_People worship this color unknowing the depth of it's abyss. Colorless. __With white, there's nothing left to feel. You are tainted. You are nothing. White can't mix with black. The two can co-exist, but not live together. In black, you are human, but in white, you cannot become human. There's nothing left to feel but __**pain. **__But even so, only your body can be in pain, but never the human heart. The human heart shall die and cease to be, but you shall be in pain for an eternity._

Riku finished the blood-written poem, not realizing he had read it out loud. He grabbed hold of it and put this knife back in his pocket.

"Stop it, Riku," someone's voice echoed.

Riku, sweating from the pain, momentarily looked to see who had entered. His eyes widened.

_Sora._

"Why are you doing this!? Don't do this to yourself! Let's get you help, come on –"

"**Shut it."** Riku staggered to stand up, "I don't need anyone's help."

"But…"

The bleeding boy raised his hand and a swirling portal of darkness appeared behind him. He backed away into it, disappearing from Sora's sight.

"What?" Sora fell to his knees, "A corridor of darkness? But Riku's been accepted into the realm of light. I don't get it…"

"You really did it this time," Axel shook his head, "That's a hell of a lot of blood. Seriously. You're going to ruin the house with it. Got it memorized? If you gotta do it, do it somewhere else."

Riku sat on the couch in gym clothes, grimacing, "Yeah. I did do it somewhere else. At the school."

"Yeah. I see you discovered the Corridors of Darkness. But hey," the redheaded man sat beside the nobody, smiling, "You don't have to do this. None of the organization did it; the whole "I cut myself to feel pain" thing, except maybe for Roxas. He was into the emo thing. But I love him for that," he stuck his tongue out.

"Hmn," Riku grunted, examining his bandages. He put his blood stained armbands through his arm to cover them. I gotta get to class. It's the first day. Classes start in fifty-seven seconds, but I can make it with the Corridor of Darkness."

Axel raised his hand as a parting as Riku washed himself away in darkness.

As he arrived in an empty stall in the gym change room, he quickly left in his black shorts and T-shirt. He entered the gym just as the bell rang.

After that, the year continued for the trio, Sora, Riku, and Kairi, in the same fashion. Argument at the beginning of the day (although Riku made sure he wasn't late for class), argument at lunch, cutting in the bathroom, and not talking for the rest of the day. The fangirls filled up the rest of Riku's schedule. He never bothered to do anything extra-curricular. Eventually, the end of the school year arrived before any of them knew it.

The final school bell of the year rang. Teenagers cheered and ran out of the school while graduates were hugging each other, staying for as long as they could. Riku rushed into an empty stall in the change room; the last place anyone would expect him to be. He was finally free from Sora and Kairi, from the talks the guidance counselor was giving him after writing that poem for Latin class.

Free to fall into nothingness again.

A/N: I had a bit of trouble with this chapter. But I needed some filler to express the problem between the trio. Next chapter – Lachrymose.


	6. Lachrymose

A/N : It's the beginning of the end. Please bear with me! The angst tones down, so that's good. I'll write an epilogue if I get at least three requests for one, although I'm happy with the way that it ends. I think it's better this way, but I guess it could end on a happier note. The last chapter is the next one, chapter seven, instead of the last chapter being chapter eight. I decided that the next one would be abnormally short unless I merged them so…they're one chapter now.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

_**Torn Hearts - Lachrymose**_

_Today is the day that everything will end._

Riku took one last look at his house and began to walk down the lonely street. It was June 29th, a day he would normally be happy to celebrate. Instead, he was spending it without a single emotion, not even a fleeting one.

_Today. My birthday._

The nobody had not spoken to any of his self-proclaimed 'friends' since summer vacation had started three weeks ago. Axel had constantly been on mysterious errands and both Roxas and Naminé hadn't shown up. He was alone.

All alone.

_I __have to escape this island. Sora and Kairi might look for me since I'm seventeen today. Want to be their usual __**nice **__selves and congratulate me. Maybe even give me a damn present. What an inconvenience. Don't they know when to just give up?_

Riku had spent the last three weeks doing nothing but spending time at the play island. He usually went there to read books, swim in the ocean, or feel pain. Sometimes he went there just to think. It was always like that, but it wasn't too bad.

_I've made my mind up to do this. __It's all been planned out. Things __**will**__ go my way._

The warm summer breeze blew and tangled his long silver hair. His skin tight yellow vest did not flutter, but his baggy blue jeans did. His lifeless eyes were flat and didn't seem to reflect the summer sunlight.

_And everything will end._

He eventually reached his small boat and paddled to the play island. He was no longer plagued by thoughts as he once was; nothing seemed to distract him anymore, and it was painful to accept reality over thoughts and dreams.

But he liked it. The pain.

Riku eventually made it to the island and didn't bother tying up his boat to the dock.

_No point in tying up the boat. __I'm not going to be leaving this place today._

_At all._

_Forever._

He took a seat on the crooked paopu tree, viewing the gray and sinister clouds.

_The sun is gone. It's covered by clouds.__ How quickly the clouds rolled over…_

_And it's freezing cold too._

He sighed heavily, and took out his knife from his pocket. Standing up, he stared at it intently, turning it over in his sturdy fingers.

"Hmph," he smirked, "To think that something so small can end a life. Or a lack of one maybe."

_I've been alone from the start._

He sighed, "No point in wasting more time."

Without another word, the teenager slammed the dagger into his chest, thrusting it into the space where his heart should lie.

At first, there was no blood. The area was eerily white. It was a clean cut and there was no pain.

_And I'l__l be alone at the end._

Riku pulled it out. Blood spurted out and flowed out at an alarming rate, verging on exploding like a fountain. His eyes widened.

_It's beautiful._

_But…it doesn't hurt._

"Riku, that's not going to work."

The nobody looked up from his chest to find himself looking into the cerulean eyes of Naminé. Her eyes showed slight concern, "You know that the only way to kill yourself is to expend yourself in a way that you have to put all your heart into it, all the heart you don't have. So why bother doing this?"

"To liberate myself," Riku replied, "It's the only way I'm able to feel, and it feels good. It's like a drug and I need to feed my addiction."

"But you didn't even flinch."

Riku gazed into her eyes. He was trapped by her alarming gaze.

"If it's an addiction, you'll need to do that even more over time. That's why it doesn't hurt anymore. You didn't mutilate yourself enough. You're going to need to cut yourself over and over again, more and more. One day, you'll be burning yourself alive to feel pain all over your body. And then what?" Naminé took a step forward, pressing herself into Riku's torso.

There was no reply.

She sighed, her lips curving upwards, "Riku. I get it. You don't want help. You wouldn't accept help if I tried to give you any. What you want is for someone to understand you. And Riku, I…"

Riku suddenly felt his knees buckle, causing him to fall onto the sandy ground. He rubbed his head, ignoring how much blood he was loosing, and went back to staring into her gorgeous eyes.

Naminé sat down beside him, rubbing his back with a gentle smile, "I'll always be here with you. To talk if you need to talk. I know what you're going through. I've been a nobody before, but now I'm a whole person. Riku, you're going to be whole again too. I can tell you that. Just hold on a little longer. I promise."

The nobody blinked.

_The ideal period to get my heart back would be on the three month, the six month, or the one year mark of me losing my heart. I'm going to get it back, or there would be no point in this. No point in making me suffer through nothing. No point in making Sora suffer._

_So why am I doing this? More and more pain…I'm just doing what they want._

_No, in the end, I'll ruin their plan. But hurting myself won't do anything._

Riku took his dagger and threw it into the ocean, it barely making a splash in the high tide. For once, he tried to smile. It appeared as a simple twitch, but it was his own smile.

Naminé grinned and gave him a careful hug. She put her arms around his back, beaming. Riku let her hold him.

She pulled herself away and told Riku concernedly, "Sora will be on his way after I fade away from here back to Kairi. You see, I can leave Kairi's body as an image, a hologram that has the ability to touch and feel basically. Her body loses consciousness and falls into a coma-like form until I return to her. The more and longer I leave her, the worse her unconsciousness following headaches are. She'll become weaker and weaker. Roxas doesn't leave Sora too often, so he's fine, but if we wanted, we could become our own people by letting them fall into a coma and die. But I can't kill my other half…"

Tears shone in her eyes, "Sora is with her now. If I leave you now, they'll be here in a few minutes. I could prolong it longer by leaving in half an hour when she'll probably be in the hospital. Sora cares for her and would most likely bring her to the hospital thinking that something is wrong with her. Do you want me to leave later or would you rather confront them now?"

_Wow, she can read me better than Kairi usually could when I had a heart._

Riku shook his head, "No, go. I'll have to deal with Sora eventually anyway."

Naminé nodded as she let her body fade away within flashing lights.

Riku hoisted himself up by grabbing onto the crooked tree, "Come, Sora."

_And all I ever wanted was to see the gently falling snow._

* * *

"Come on, Kairi, wake up!" Sora began shaking his girlfriend harder and harder, "What's wrong?"

Kairi lethargically opened her sapphire eyes, "My head…it's killing me."

Sora grinned, "You're up. What happened?"

"Just fainted…ow."

He hugged his girlfriend on the shore of the main island, "You don't have to come with me to find Riku. I can take you home. You need some rest."

"No, let's go," Kairi stood up and grabbed her boyfriend's hand.

"Are you sure? That was pretty nasty. Does it happen often?"

"I'm sure. It has only happened a couple of times before. It started on the day we started going out I think. That was when Riku was in the hospital."

Sora looked unsure, but nonetheless led her to the boat. They sat in the small water vessel and Sora began to paddle.

Kairi looked out at the small island that was getting closer, "Hey, I think that's him…with something blue."

Sora followed her gaze and sped up the paddling, "I have this foreboding feeling about this. Like things are going to change forever. And it will be forever lachrymose."

She nodded and looked away, "You never say things like that, using vocabulary like that or anything. I guess it's really bad if you're saying that."

When they reached the dock of the play island, Sora quickly tied his boat up. He began to run when Kairi whispered, "But…where's his boat?"

Sora glanced at the empty space where Riku's boat should have been tied up and started to run again, screaming, "RIKU!!"

Kairi staggered behind him, still weak from her unconsciousness, "I'm so sorry for this and what Riku's doing…Sora."

Sora ran across the bridge to Riku, stopping at the sight of the hole in his chest, "Wh-what the…what the hell did you do, Riku?"

He shrugged, "It doesn't matter. Just fight me. Fight me now."

"Were you trying to kill yourself? What…How are you alive with that gaping hole in your chest? Didn't you stab your heart?"

"Sora, if you haven't noticed by now, you're stupid."

The brunette bit his lip, "I don't get it. Are you immortal?"

The silver-haired laughed in an attempt to mock his former best friend, "Wrong. Try again."

Sora finally noticed a sword in the nobody's hand and gulped, "Your Way to the Dawn…Why are you doing this to me? What do you want to do? Just spar or…" he gulped, "Go for the kill?"

"Just fight like you mean it."

"…You don't have a heart, do you?" Sora asked.

"Meaning?" Riku asked flatly.

"I don't know!" Sora furrowed his forehead.

"Sora," the nobody continued, trying not to reveal the answer, "How would you describe me as a person?"

"Well…you're kinda emotionless I guess. But, Riku, nobody is perfectly emotionless. Just…try to open up a little, you know?"

Riku snorted, "Oh Sora, you are so naïve."

Sora blushed angrily, "I'm sorry, okay!? And what if I don't want to fight you?"

"Well, that then," Riku smirked, "means that I'll have to kill your girlfriend."

Kairi looked up, having finally made it to Sora's side. Fear shined in her eyes and she began to shiver involuntarily.

"You wouldn't…" Sora gaped.

Riku swung the Way to the Dawn to her throat, pressing it against her throat with barely any of his strength, "Do you really think I'd hesitate to kill her?"

Sore stared at the frightening image of Kairi whimpering, a single drop of blood trailing down her chest from her neck.

Kairi coughed, daring to move her bright blue eyes to look at the man who threatened to kill her, "Riku," her voice was hoarse, "I never liked you. You…You always frightened me. The moment I saw you ten years ago, I was frightened. Not because you were scary, but just that I could sense something within you. Something that wasn't afraid to kill. And look where we are now. From almost killing both Sora and I with the power of the Heartless to now where you're threatening to kill me, you have murderous intent inside of you. And…I don't hate you. I'm a Princess of Heart. I don't hate," she squinted, "But I don't particularly like you either. And for that, I'm not sorry. You're hurting my boyfriend, and that's hurting me."

Sora blinked and suddenly had an image of resolve within his eyes. A golden keyblade materialized in the fifteen year old's hands, "Fine. I'll fight you. And by the way," the brunette swung his sword in front of him, valor within his azure eyes.

"Happy Birthday Riku. I hope this is what you want."

A/N: Yes. I had a hard time writing this chapter because I wanted to tone down on the angst DX. There won't be an explosive amount of it anymore; just a little. I don't like Kairi either and I find her to be manipulative. Next and final chapter - Oblivion.


	7. Oblivion

A/N : Wow. Last chapter. Nothing much for me to say anymore…Oh, I'm sorry if Kairi seems a little OOC. I personally think that she doesn't like Riku. There's always a space between them. I think that they respect each other, but don't like each other. She even said to Sora (although she was kidding). "Why don't we go together, just the two of us?" as an attempt to leave Riku out. So…enjoy the last chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

_**Torn He**__**arts – Oblivion**_

"Happy Birthday Riku. I hope this is what you want."

Sora and Riku stared into each others eyes. The royal blue eyes were filled with courage while the opposing eyes were flat and uncaring. The two friends, yet enemies circled each other, their swords drawn in front of them.

Kairi took a few steps backwards to give the two fighters room. She collapsed to the ground from fatigue and fear, still shaking.

Then the clashing came. The swords _clinked _and _clanked _while drawing sparks from hitting each other.

"Why do you want to fight me?" Sora asked with anguish, ducking from the Way To The Dawn's swing. He threw his keyblade at Riku, an attack he hadn't used since Castle Oblivion although he didn't realize it. To him, it was a new attack that he had just devised.

Riku jumped out of the way and attacked Sora mid-jump. Their swords collided, each with equal strength being unable to surpass the other.

"I fight for the end."

Sora pushed against Riku's sword with all his might, "But why?"

Riku suddenly found new strength within him and pushed even harder, causing Sora's keyblade to fly out of his hands and sparks to fly to the ground, "You would never be able to understand."

The fifteen year old ran to grab his keyblade, but his elder was not giving him the chance. He swung his sword at him, but Sora dodge rolled out of the way each time. Riku gritted his teeth and slashed at Sora, still failing to hit him. Swearing under his breath, he ran back and using his left hand, opened his palm in Sora's direction, "DARK FIRAGA!"

Fiery balls of darkness flew towards Sora, catching him unprepared. He screamed and fell back from the impact, becoming scorched by the dark fire.

The nobody strolled towards Sora's fallen body, kicking it, "Get up. You're too weak, which means you must at least have some stamina to make up for it. You defeated heartless and some organization members before, remember? Challenge me, loser. I'm one of them and always have been."

Sora looked at Riku, anger floating around in his eyes. He grabbed his keyblade and threw himself up with the strength of his arms despite his burns, jump attacking Riku. Riku blocked it easily and counter attacked, only to have it blocked.

"Explain to me why. I don't care if I don't understand! Make me understand!" Sora cried out as he swung his keyblade at a low range, slicing Riku's ankles with a remorseful look on his face.

Without flinching, the nobody took his Way To The Dawn and stabbed it through the open hole in his chest, twisting it while drawing even more blood to make the hole in the shape of a large circle, "Can't you see? I'm hollow inside."

Sora gaped slightly, "I can't fight you like this."

Riku took advantage of the opening and pierced Sora's left bicep, "Yes you can."

Kairi gasped, putting a hand to her mouth. Tears began to spill from her eyes and stain her pink zippered dress, "Stop this…"

Blood was staining the sandy ground. Riku left a trail of blood from his ankles and chest while the entire area around Sora's arm was drenched in crimson.

Without even whimpering, Riku's former friend blinked, ignoring the blood. With that stab in his bicep, he seemed to have found some sort of resolve within himself. He managed the stand up even with the pain. His strange black and red outfit suddenly transformed into a white outfit of the same style, blowing in the frigid breeze. He suddenly had two keyblades that were circling around him.

Sora cried out a battle scream and ran forward, "RIKU!!"

Riku was suddenly overcome by attacks that hit a complete three hundred and sixty degree angle. They were fast. _Too _fast. Inhumanly fast.

_No way. He's so fast…it's like he's flying. Wait, _Riku managed to get a glimpse of Sora's feet before being catapulted by attacks again, _He is flying._

Riku was completely unable to block any of Sora's Final Form attacks. He wasn't even able to dodge them. The nobody suddenly felt a whack in the hole in his chest and was sent flying into the ocean, barely making a splash within the high tide. He swam back to shore and climbed onto the mini island, glaring at Sora. He himself flew up, levitating within the air. The area around him went black. He took his sword and raised it above his head.

"Dark Aura."

He was everywhere. He was impeccably quick, flying faster than Sora. He was attacking from what seemed to be from all directions all at once. Sora began to scream, blood spurting out from all over his body.

Shouting, Riku plunged his sword into the ground, destroying all the terrain around him. The play island cracked and was no more. The ground seemed to explode, causing the trio to fly onto the sandy land of the main part of the play island.

Sora gasped for air, lying on his stomach. He had landed half on the grass and half on the sand. Blood was flowing down his body, staining everything around him scarlet.

"Riku?" he called, stumbling to his feet and looking for him.

"Sora!" Kairi had enough strength to walk to her boyfriend and grab his arm, "Are you okay? Use some cure spells. You didn't use any MP so you should be able to, right?"

Sora grinned, "Curaga. Curaga. Curaga," his body glowed green for a few moments and was suddenly healed. "All better. But I think I might have broken a few ribs," he grimaced, "I'll need to go to the hospital for that."

"We should leave for the hospital now. I'll paddle," Kairi offered kindly, But…where's Riku?"

Sora suddenly noticed something thick like black cobwebs several feet in front of him, close to the broken remnants of the islet. He ran forward gasping while was Kairi trailing him to the black mess.

Riku was lying in the middle of it, the thick dark cobwebs coming and evaporating from _him._

He was fading away into nothing.

_Plan successful._

"Riku…" Sora collapsed to his knees, "This is the way all the members of Organization XIII died. Are you…a nobody?"

Riku gazed into Sora's eyes, nodding.

"But…how is that possible?"

"Well, Sora," Riku spoke, "Remember when Xemnas hit me badly with his sword? Look," he weakly unzipped his vest, revealing the diabolical markings from his dreams, "These markings travelled from my hip, the same hip where Xemnas attacked me. Xemnas rid me of my heart back in December and gave it to a member of the Organization to make me pay. To make _us _pay for not understanding them and destroying them when all they wanted was to get their hearts back and be _human_. Sora, we were wrong. I realize that now. People…People weren't even hurt by them! They took their hearts from the heartless. I'm not glad they did this to me, but they were right in doing so."

"Is that why you were in the hospital? Why you had no heartbeat?" Tears poured from Sora's glittering eyes, streaming down his pale face, "Riku, I could see how much pain you were in! Even if you didn't show it, I knew that you were. I guess we never took time to understand the nobodies, but why did it have to be _you?_"

"To see you suffer."

Sora took his best friend's hand, "Why didn't you tell me sooner? Why? Things could have been so much better…"

"I didn't want you to trouble yourself with my problems."

Sora looked down and sighed, "Remember when I went to your house when I wasn't supposed to? I think I might have been eight at the time. When you found out…you were angry. But I didn't mind, Riku. I felt sad that you didn't trust me enough to tell me. But you did, and I thought that I was going to lose you forever. But, Riku, I'm losing you now and it hurts more than ever! Back then, I thought I had lost you as a friend. Now, Riku, I'm losing you for good. I'll never see you smile, laugh, cry, get angry. Your happiness and anger both, I love everything about you! And that's why…I'll miss you when you're gone. Because you're going to be gone forever. And I'll never see you again."

Riku squeezed his hand, "Don't cry. Please, don't cry."

Sora gasped and only cried harder, "Riku, why did you do this? You wanted to die didn't you? You must have gone through so much pain…"

"I'm sorry, Sora. I was insane. I…I couldn't feel. Everything was so…was so strange. I saw things that weren't there. I had nothing. I _was and am _nothing. So, I cut myself. I cut myself so much that I probably would have died if I had a heart. It gave me pain, and that pain made me feel. But now…I'm at peace. I feel like I'd rather exist in a non-existent world of oblivion than not exist here in this existent world. I'm sorry for what you're going through. I don't regret doing this to myself though."

"Sora, I wasn't angry back then. The day I said to meet at the park but you went to my house instead. The day you saw the disgusting condition of the house despite that maid that lived there. The day you realized the world I lived in. I was _embarrassed. _Embarrassed that you'd have to see the real me. To see the world I lived in. You didn't deserve to see that. You deserved so much more."

As Riku's grip got weaker, Sora wept harder, "Ri-…ku. Riku, don't leave me alone!"

"Yo, Riku."

Riku looked to his left to see Axel in a white T-shirt and black pants strolling towards him. With a disappointed look on his face, Axel spoke again, "Man, you gave up already? I have a birthday present for you, but I guess it's too late to give it to you since you're fading away and everything."

Both Sora's and Kairi's eyes widened, "Axel."

Axel walked to sit beside Riku, "You know what that present is? The best present someone could ever give you?"

Riku shook his head.

"Your heart."

Riku's eyes widened as everything he had done collapsed onto his shoulders. Thought raced through his head, crushing him.

_Why? I guess this means my plan was a failure. I thought it was foolproof. I thought I had foreseen everything. I'm not a gifted student for nothing. But I wasn't expecting my heart as a birthday present! I was foolish…I lost this game. And the price was my heart and life. Or lack of life. Whatever._

"So…I did this for nothing? I was going to get my heart back today?"

"Yup. And it's took late for me to give it back to you now. You're dying. You're fading away. So now, I guess I'm an official person. Someone with their own heart."

Sora hiccupped, "So you were the nobody that got their heart back? Riku could have lived here with us if he had waited a day?"

Despite how Kairi didn't like Riku, a single tear rolled down her face. Her fiery red hair seemed to flash blonde for a moment.

"Yeah. And that's why I was away the past few weeks. I was clearing things up with Xemnas. In a way, he's even here with us now. Nobodies fade away forever, but in a way are parts of this very universe. The nobodies help make the world go round. Someone who is or once was a nobody can see the nobodies in this earth."

Riku closed his eyes, "At least I have chosen my own path."

Suddenly, the wind picked up speed and made Sora shiver. Goosebumps crawled up Riku's arms. His arm twitched when something wet landed on it. He opened his eyes.

Beautiful white snow was falling from the sky.

The nobody smiled, "I finally got to see the gently…fall…ing snow. It's white…Just like…me. Nothingness…So…ra. Thank…you."

_Goodbye._

Riku closed his eyes for the last time. A droplet of snow landed on his face, just below his closed right eye. It melted and flowed down his face like a teardrop.

"RIKU!! NO!!" Sora screamed, "DON'T LEAVE!"

Riku's body faded away within the darkness of the thick cobwebs.

Sora pounded the ground with his fist, "DAMMIT, RIKU! DON'T DO THIS TO ME!"

The redhead patted Sora's back and caressed him, "C'mon, Sora. We have to go now."

Axel stared at the empty space Riku had once laid on, "I guess when you have nothing to live for, not knowing whether you'd get your heart back or not, it's hard to bother living as a nobody."

"Riku, I guess I should have told you that you'd get your heart back. But it's too late now. You're gone. Gone forever."

"You know, I've heard rumors about the truth of snow falling in the summer. Some say that someone has died and is crying. Some say that an angel has grown wings. Whatever it is, at least you got your wish."

With one last glance at that empty space Axel was talking to, Sora let himself be led away by Kairi, still sobbing.

_Walking this road without you…_

_To remake forgotten promises…_

_And to meet you at road's end._

_I miss__ you, Riku._

A/N: Thank you to all the readers, especially those who reviewed. This was my first fan fiction, and now it's completed. Thank you.


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